this morning on early today, tipping point. anti-american protestors attack u.s. government buildings in two countries leaving one state department employee dead. song frenzy. all eyes on apple as the rumors of the next generation iphone. deep impact. an amateur astronomer captures a massive explosion on the planet an amateur astronomer captures a massive explosion on the planet jupiter. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm mara schiavocampo. today we begin with under siege. violent protests broke out

against the u.s. and libya in egypt yesterday resulting in the death of at least one american. in libya last night, smoke and flames billowed out of the u.s. consulate in benghazi after they clashed with armed muslim protesters throwing handmade bombs at the compound. the gun men were outraged at a film which criticizes islam and the prophet mohammed. while strongly condemning the attacks, secretary of state hillary clinton confirms that one state department officer was killed in the protest. earlier tuesday anger over that same film boiled over at the u.s. embassy in cairo. thousands cheered while demonstrators pulled down the american flag and replaced it with a black islamic flag. the white house is denying reports with a split with israel over iran's nuclear weapons program. president obama spoke on the telephone for an hour with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they are reunited in their determination to stop iran from

building a nuclear weapon. the statement refuted earlier reports that the president requested a meeting with netanyahu in washington next week. netanyahu wants specifics of what would provoke a u.s. military led strike against iranian nuclear facilities. congress appears to be gridlocked in a battle over the budget. harry reed says he's hopeful congress will reach some kind of agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff with automatic across the board spending cuts next year along with the expiration of the bush era spending tax cuts. john boehner says he is, quote, not confident congress can reach an agreement before the elections. all of that moody's warns they may downgrade credit ratings. it's finally here. today is the day apple ends all of the speculation and rumors floating around the much behind media event. those in the know expect them to debut its next generation iphone today. it will have a significant

impact on the nation's economy. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: faster, sleeker, more memory, better application. it can feed your dog, even change your baby's diaper. well, the last two are a bit of a stretch, but speculation about the new iphone and what it may be able to do has been building for months now. >> you know, that's what i'm curious to see, the laws of physics and design sort of dictate that a phone can really only be a phone. we're not going to get a magical flying spaceship tomorrow. it is going to be a roughly square device with a touchscreen running an operating system that is relatively familiar to people. >> reporter: what's unfamiliar is the level of expectation which stretched far beyond the ability to make a call, send a text, or surf the web. experts say today's announcement could be the biggest consumer electronics launch of all time that 5.5 million could sell during its debut weekend and that ultimately sales could

alter the u.s. economy. >> it seems insane. just when you think that the apple hype machine cannot possibly be ramped up any higher, you actually see an analyst report saying that the iphone could positively impact the entire united states grows domestic product. >> reporter: that's right. analysts at jpmorgan suggest that massive sales could actually boost the country's gdp by 1/4 to 1/2 a pcentage point. the economic and technical questions swirling around the iphone should begin to be answered later this morning when we find out just what's at the center of this new apple's core. jay gray, nbc news, san francisco. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in florida, a dramatic end to a high speed chase after a car plowed into a guardrail, spun out, and smacked into the back of another car before finally coming to a rest along i-95. two men and one teenager inside took off running but plus

captured them. the trio may be linked to a series of burglaries. in utah a massive breach in a dam sent water and mud flowing into dozens of homes and businesses. strong thunderstorms and heavy rain were too much for a dike causing a gash 80 feet wide and 30 feet deep. in pennsylvania, a heartless act of vandalism. the target, animals. a goat and a horse were spray painted over the weekend. they were just sitting on a farm when they were attacked. their owners who think the same vandals tagged mailboxes say they're shaken by seeing livestock miss treated. finally, could this be the future of our military? the pentagon-backed darva program has posted video of what it calls robot dogs. the electronic canines could lighten the load for the troops carry gear. gps keeps the high tech mules moving in the right direction. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist todd santos

from the weather center forecast. can it keep them from going to the bathroom? >> they might. that's terrifying, as if military dogs weren't already -- >> right. then they have no head which is a little freaky. >> little awkward. looks like something from "star wars." all right. i'm not sure. if you're headed outside with your own dog this morning, you're going to find some cool temperatures across a few areas across a good stretch of the eastern let's say 2/3 parts of the country. temperatures cooler. the cool spots where you see some of the showers in the central u.s. and dakotas and extending into montana. you'll find a few spots slightly cooler. only slightly cooler. there's a look at a lot of clear skies across a good stretch of the country. what those showers are outlining is behind a cold front as that slowing progression gets some showers in towards minneapolis. a lot of activity to the north and west of you. denver getting in on showers. thunderstorms in the afternoon. still a few spots down through southern nevada. we could see some localized issues with flash flooding early this morning.

then the threats shifting eastward today after some of the issues through southern california the last couple of days. here's a look at the other chance. the onshore flow in florida. frontal boundary has made its way farther on south. especially as you get daytime heating in the area, be on the lookout for that. mainly central to southern portions of florida. down towards the coastal city, i-10 corridor. southern louisiana, southeastern texas may get some showers. tomorrow better chances. the best chance of showers still the four corners as the ejection in the north and east. the clock as we get into tomorrow, that's where you get some chances over towards chicago. for today you are on the quieter side of things. here's a close jr. look in at the showers crossing into the i-90. that's a look at the region. let's check out your local forecast. washington, d.c., another beautiful day. this is three in a row for us here. temperatures are slowly warming up. 82 degrees and full sunshine. atlanta, a few clouds.

also on the dry side of things. denver, as i mentioned, may see a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. so at least a few areas we're keeping a close eye on tomorrow. we'll talk about the next couple of days going forward as we move the showers to the central u.s. >> thanks so much, todd, appreciate it. stocks soar, zum kerrberg speaks and the woman who claims eating at starbucks every day has been good for her. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus a new chris brown controversy. did he really get a new tattoo showing former girlfriend rihanna's beaten zbries u.s.a. soccer gets a help from hurk key luce and bieber fever gets a lift from a minor league hockey team. you're watching "early today." >> announcer: "early today" is brought to you by advil. make the switch to advil now.

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm march va schiavocampo.

here are some of your top headlines this morning. there's no end in site yet for the chicago teachers strike which begins day three today. union negotiators say they did not make much progress in talks yesterday. whistle-blower bradley berk ken felled has been awarded $104 million by the internal revenue servi service, the largest individual federal payout in u.s. history. he turned on the swiss bank ubs for helping thousands of americans invade taxes and since then the u.s. has collected billions of dollars. next month the interior of the statue of liberty will be reopened to the public on the monument's 126th birthday. lady liberty has been closed for renovations since last october. and an amateur astronomer captured video of a flash hitting the giant planet jupiter as it took a hit from our solar system. the impact, probably a comet or asteroid, happened early monday morning. the massive gravity of jupiter makes it a cosmic shield that helps protect life on earth. now here's an early look on

how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,323 after gaining 69 points yesterday. the s&p added 4 and the nasdaq was up just a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei leaped 152 points while in hong kong the hang seng jumped 217. optimism that central banks will support stimulus overseas and here at home helped the dow hit its highest level in nearly five years. energy industrials and financials led the day. many traders sat on the sidelines ahead of the fed's decision tomorrow and germany's decision on the eurozone bailout today. there was heavy work on the nasdaq. citigroup and morgan stanley agreed to view their joint venture at $13.5 billion as morgan stanley begins to buy out citi's stake in the firm. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg

admitted yesterday he's disappointed with his company's crumbling share price but his comments about company's morale and mobile growth prospects pushed facebook's share higher in late trade. meanwhile, the ce zynga resigned this week. luxury retailer bur berry issued a profit warning citing slowing sales to china. u.s. regulators issued a rare warning to land co parent loreal over saying their antiaging products alter the way the human body works. that requires classification as a new drug and in turn fda approval. finally, move over, jared, a 66-year-old virginia woman says she lost 85 nountsz two years eating every single meal at starbucks. she credits the nutrition info on the packets which made calorie counting ease ji. the oriole's slide, the sox

spanning the yanks and will bieber take the ice? plus there's no place like home for team u.s.a. and many of us have been enjoying a very easy week weather wise. we'll track some of those showers moving eastward. coming up, you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, it's been a hard year for the last place boston red sox, but they can still enjoy messing things up for their arch rife valgs, the new york yankees. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the red sox are not going to make the postseason, but they ask still play the role of spoiler against their bitter rivals, the yanks. pick 2 up in the ninth. tied at three. one aboard for jacoby ellsbury. fourth hit of the game, the biggest of the night. a single to right. the throw to the plate not in time and the sox walk off with a 4-3 win. with a yankee loss the or ray oels move back into a tie for first. j.j. harding belted a pair of home runs against the rays. baltimore crush muched them. the rays are two back in the east. the tigers made up a game on the white sox. miguel cabrera smashed his 36th homer of the year. they trail chicago by two games. special night in new york as they remembered 9/11.

the mets wore first responder nypd hats during batting practice. the team in red, white and blue. the nationals tyler moore with a go-ahead run in the seventh. nats have won eight of their last seven. if you build it, they will come, at least that's what seattle is hoping. they plan to build an arena. seattle once had the super son nix and we know how that turned out. soccer, they guaranteed a women and the u.s.a. delivered. the americans got a big lift from hercules in the 55th minute. hercules gomez scored the only goal. u.s.a. wins. next world cup qualifier october 12th. the bakersfield common doors are coming down with bieb ber fever. they offered the pop star a one year contract. bieber's canadian so he's got to be good at hockey, sfliet with the looming nhl lookout, bieber on ice could be the best hockey

you'll see all winter. that's your ermly look at sports all day. i'm fred rowing again. jessica simpson's odd new commercial and a funny man takes on a very serious role. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, one indiana man's annual tradition paying tribute to the victims of 9/11. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early

today." i mentioned some of those temperatures warmer this morning. 63 degrees instead of 50 degrees. by this afternoon, check that out, 68 in minneapolis. temperatures have been quite a bit warmer earlier this week. cooldown. denver showing up with showers and thunderstorms. once you get into south florida some of the better chances. i did mention some of those along the gulf coast, especially tomorrow you'll see the better chance, new orleans, back towards houston and dallas. if you're watching us on 9 news in denver, colorado. visit the featuring in the best in aviation at birds i nthat is your early event of th day. >> birds in art. sounds fun. thanks, todd. and now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. they focus a great deal on celebrities and -- chris brown's new tattoo looks like a mexican day of the dead skull design.

jessica simpson unveiled her new 40 pound slimmer post baby look. she's made it clear she's been having a tough time losing her baby weight. anyone can sympathize with that. what's harder to sympathize with is her awkward first weight watchers commercial. she's seen only from the neck up. both entertainment and business experts wonder who was so uncomfortable with showing her body and why not shoot the commercial later. finally, in casting cosmetics, do you buy comedian bill murray playing franklin roosevelt. after its recent festival debut, he's earned excellent debuts. i saw jessica simpson's commercial, and a weight loss commercial that doesn't show your body doesn't -- >> it doesn't. it's not the before/after kind of thing. >> right. but it seems like an attempt to evade the obvious. >> it is, kind of. yeah. you wanted to show something. show the change. i don't -- >> and there's nothing to be ashamed of. maybe it's taking her a while.

it takes most new moms a while. >> someone should get hassled. >> i think they're probably going to deal with that backlash. this comes to us from wthr channel 13 eye witness news in indianapolis, indiana, where once again there was a one-man tribute to the victims of september 11th. every year since 9/11 jimmy has stood along a highway overpass waiving a giant american flag. he takes a day off of work to keep the solitary tribute going. he's proud of the fact the flag can be seen up to a mile away calling it a reminder of our greatness. he describes himself simply as, quote, a humble mess sener. i'm mara schiavocampo and this is "early today." just your first stop today on your nbc station. anncr: this casino's in west virginia.

but it makes millions off marylanders every year. now they're running dishonest ads. why? because voting for question seven is a vote to build a... world-class resort casino in maryland. creating thousands of jobs and... ...according to the official department of legislative...

services, hundreds of millions for our schools. while saving taxpayer money by cutting casino subsidies. question seven. good jobs and better schools in maryland. not west virginia. it's the gift that keeps on giving. cool air remains in place to start your hump day. we'll tell you about the warm-up ahead today as well. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this wednesday, september 12, 2012. police rescue several animals after an elderly woman was found dead in her corsica valley home. the woman died of natural causes. her name has not been released. officers found ten small dogs in the home. three of them did not survive. the other seven were taken to an

emergency veterinarian for care. they'll be available for adoption as soon as they're healthy. a culpeper, virginia man whose wife was killed in a high profile shooting has been found dead. 62-year-old gary cook was found by a maintenance worker inside his culpeper apartment. sources say he may have been dead for several days. his wife patricia cook was killed by a culpeper police officer. the police officer faces murder charges. police say there are no signs of foul play in cook's death. the search is on for a man who stabbed a dale city man in his own home and stole his car. they broke into his home, stabbed the homeowner, and took his white 1990s model buick regal. the victim was airlifted to a nearby hospital. his condition is unknown right now. police say they do not believe the incident is random, and the man responsible may still be driving that buick.